Rampage host Hazelton at the Jim Saturday night in CIHL Semi Final icebreaker

Empty and Quiet for the moment, that will all change tomorrow night at
the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre. That as the Prince Rupert Rampage and
Hazelton Wolverines take to the ice in their Best of Three Semi Final series

The Prince Rupert Rampage season is now down to the Best of three Elimination stage, that after the hometown Rhinos wrapped up the regular season last Saturday with a win over Smithers, landing in third place in the CIHL West.  

The final result from the regular season was something which gave the Hazelton Wolverines the home ice advantage in their Semi Final series which starts tomorrow night in Prince Rupert.

The Rampage have a pretty clear idea as to what it will take to hold the advantage over the Wolverines and that's to find a way to slow down the one-two scoring punch of the two top players for Hazelton.

Tanner Wort and Ethan Brown combined for 77 points in just fourteen games with the Wolverines, Wort led the CIHL with 22 goals and 22 assists during the regular season.

Stopping those two offensive threats would go a long way to levelling the ice for the Rampage.

The Rhinos will be looking to Judd Repole to help carry their load into the semi finals, he was the team's top scoring threat in 2023-24 with 11 goals and 16 assists.

When it comes to those stopping the pucks, both teams are pretty even there, with Prince Rupert's Kieran Sharpe holding just a whisker of an advantage over the Wolverines Keano Wilson.

The Goals Against for Sharpe finished at 3.74, for Wilson the GAA was 3.87

The Rampage are more than aware of the importance for a strong start and for an all important Game One victory. 

As a loss would put the Wolverines into the drivers seat for the follow up games next weekend in Hazelton.

The other semi final series also launches this week ,with Smithers and Quesnel taking to their work in Quesnel on Saturday, the Steelheads will host the Cariboo team next weekend in the Bulkley Valley. 

The winners of the two semi finals will move on to take on the Terrace River Kings or Williams Lake Stampeders who have the bye until later this month.

As they did all season, the Rampage have reached into the rosters of the PRMHA for their Game Day call up, with Remy Pottle set to hit the ice with the home side tomorrow night.

Rampage fans are advised that the Civic Centre parking lot is going to be a pretty congested place on Saturday night,  the Semi Final Showdown with the Wolverines comes at the same time as the 64th All Native Basketball Tournament hits the court in the Russell Gamble Gymnasium.

That will make for less available space at the complex than might be the norm on a regular game night.

On hand for Saturday's Semi Final showdown will be the Prince Rupert Port Authority one of the team's long standing partners on Game Day presentation, their fundraising work for Saturday is destined for the North Coast Health Improvement Society.

Also set to be down at the Jim  for Saturday night is the Kaien Trails group, they're offering up a look at their work underway on the Cloudberry Trail project.

Follow the Prince Rupert Rampage social media stream for any notes leading up to puck drop tomorrow night at 7PM.

More notes on the CIHL season can be reviewed through our archive page.